


Adaptation

by AfterTheTempest (orphan_account)



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: An amazing prompt!, Gen, Season 9, sad stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-15 07:21:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2220492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/AfterTheTempest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Agent Washington of Project Freelancer was always fun to be around. Sure he could be sarcastic but he was a tad bit silly and always susceptible to pranks. Agent Washington, commanding officer of the the blues was different. He was rough around the edges, his voice even sounded a tad bit scratchier to Carolina, deeper too a little. Wash was all hard edges now and Carolina was frustrated there was so much change in her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adaptation

**Author's Note:**

> Bless humankyt3 on tumblr for this: "What if when carolina met up with the reds and blues (that includes wash) ad went to rescue epsilon-church from the unit in season 9, she just felt so much heartache because wash used to be the silly one of the group that they could play pranks on and now he was this hardened serious broken soldier and she confronts him about it because she hates change and a very small reason she wanted to find them was to find stability and then she finds him like that"
> 
> My tumblr is agt-wash, if you send me prompts with Wash there's a 98% chance I'll do it.

When Carolina first came in came in contact with the Reds and Blues Wash said nothing. There was silence between them and they stood still. Carolina was standing three feet away from him, back straight, looking directly at his visor. There had been no words but she knew something was off. She heard they way Wash had ordered his team to stand down, one grumbled as he lowered his gun, the other complied quickly.

His words had been low and precise with none of the previous lift. Jokingly, she would have blamed puberty, but the way he stood, back straight, gun held tightly in one of his hands, she realized now wasn't the time to joke. Mouth set in a straight line under her helmet, Carolina said nothing. She waited, giving Wash the chance to just say something.

"I thought you were dead. Everyone else is too now." Wash's shoulders seemed to droop a bit, not really relax, but more like he wanted to curl in on himself. Reaching up, he pulled off his helmet, trusting his team evacuated the base as he ordered so he was only with Carolina. He knew if anything he needed her trust, at the very least he didn't want her to snap and pull a gun on him. She'd already aimed two at the man she loved in the past, or so the story went.

"I've heard." Carolina pulled off her helmet as well, trying not to make a face. Her bangs clung to her forehead a bit, damp with sweat. Quickly, her eyes scanned Wash's face, taking in the graying sideburns and new scars. One looked rather fresh.

"Bunch of liars, the lot ended up to be." The words were probably meant to be left in his head. His lip curled a bit, eyebrows pulling together a bit before he locked eyes with Carolina. His eyes donned dark rings, eyelids drooped a a bit, lips stuck in a seemingly permanent frown.

Carolina wasn't sure this was even Wash. His freckles were light, having faded over time. Roots showed through poorly bleached hair. A faint scent of alcohol clung to him. She fought back a frown, his lip was freshly split and he chewed at it as they studied each other, she swore she caught a whiff of smoke on his breath, and he fidgeted. It seemed he was pretty good at hiding it but his fingers twitched against his thighs.  She opened her mouth and she swore Wash nearly flinched as the words spilled out, filling the tense air between them.

"Take me to Epsilon."

Carolina saw his mouth twitch a bit before he raised his helmet, putting it back on over messy hair. His response was low and held an air of respect, she was pretty sure he merely said 'okay'. Her eyebrows pulled together and she put her own helmet on, saying something about hurrying. Wash gave a nod and turned, leaving quickly to talk with his team and she assumed the other team she saw upon arrival. She paced a bit, steps short and quick, frustration came off her in waves. Everyone was gone. Just gone. Every relationship, friendship, anything between them was gone. At this point even Wash was gone.

The Washington she knew didn't drink, he'd look nervously at the bottle and decline, no matter what words South spat at his feet. Even with York's influence lingering around him he'd never wanted to smoke. His hands did fidget though, against his gun. They'd tap away until South snapped at him, snarled words with ugly edges to them. But he always had those wide, bright eyes. Not now, the color in them was dull and the eyelids drooped, his eyes focused on a point on the ground. It was like he rented his body out to someone else. He wasn't North and York's little puppy, always trailing after them to make his sarcastic jokes and digs at York. He wasn't dopey-eyed for North, he wasn't flinching from South's harsher words. There was no grin, there were no dimples, there wasn't a sly look in his eyes. There wasn't anything. He looked empty.

Now he stood tall and solid, a hardened soldier. Carolina didn't realize that she wasn't ready to see him like this. Grown up. She heard Wash's voice, loud and full of authority as he spoke to his team. And as they readied to leave for their mission, over the days, Carolina noticed something else. She shouldn't have been observing him so closely. But the way he lingered around Tuckers side. It wasn't much but he would spit out a snarky remark.

It wasn't like he used to be.

But the way Wash let his shoulders relax (slightly) around the Reds and Blues made Carolina's chest tighten. Because she realized that there was a rift between them now. This wasn't Wash. 

This was the commanding officer of the Blue team. The one who patted Caboose's shoulder and put up with everyone. 

Like how they used to put up with him.


End file.
